Long Term Benefits of Cycling Investment

Cycling
investment has long term health benefits for Auckland,
according to a recent study.

The research is a world first
in systematically exploring the future effects of realistic
policy options to increase cycling.

The study, just
published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives
demonstrates the clear long term benefits to Auckland’s
health of making the right kind of investment for
cycling.

The research, undertaken at the University
of Auckland’s School of Population Health, is the
culmination of a four year project funded by the Health
Research Council and NZTA to understand commuting and health
in Auckland.

The work brought together international
evidence about cycling to work and its positive and negative
effects on health, household costs and the environment.

“We know already that shifting to walking and cycling
for the trip to work can create a lot of benefits for health
and the economy, as well as making for a fairer society,”
says lead author Dr Alex Macmillan. “We also know that in
cities like Auckland, where motor vehicles dominate, fear of
traffic numbers and speeds is uppermost in preventing people
from taking up cycling.

Dr Macmillian says
researchers were interested in uncovering the complex
factors shaping trends over time in cycle commuting. “We
wanted to use this understanding to find the best policy
options for Auckland and other similar cities where cycling
levels are very low”.

The authors compared a range
of options for turning around the declining trend in cycling
to work and achieving the city’s strategic goals. They
found that the best kinds of policies involve investing in
specific road changes that effectively improve cycling
safety while also helping a wide range of people feel safe
while riding.

“Keeping cyclists visible to drivers
is also vital for safety and attracting new people to
cycling for transport,” says Dr Macmillan.

“We
found that for main roads, investing in high quality on-road
lanes with physical barriers, along with proven intersection
changes, were the most effective at attracting new cyclists
and keeping them safe. On the other hand, re-creating local
streets as places for shared walking, cycling and driving at
low speeds were also helpful”, he says.

Effects on
road traffic injury, reduced emissions, the gains in health
resulting from exercise and savings from lower fuel bills
were all weighed up against the costs of road
improvements.By far the largest benefits come from
reducing deaths related to lack of exercise – a spend of
$600 million on the right kind of cycling infrastructure
yields savings from increased exercise in the tens of
billions of dollars.

“This is the first
comprehensive assessment of future costs and benefits to
society of specific active transport policies,” says Dr
Macmillan. “It demonstrates that, far from being
expensive, high quality changes to main roads and local
streets across the region are extremely cost effective,
bringing more than $20 in benefit to society for every
dollar spent over the next 40 years”, he says.

“This is in stark contrast to typical benefit cost
comparisons for other kinds of large scale transport
investment. For example, the Roads of National Significance
have been variously reported as having benefit to cost
ratios of 0.1 to 5 (in other words, returning between 10c
and $5 for every dollar spent).”

Insights from the
research have relevance to other New Zealand and
international cities that are considering strategic
investment in cycling.

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